shadokitty

I just finished a good episode of Scott Linden's Wingshooting USA, on Pursuit Channel. The host was taking some people on an upland bird hunt in the farmlands of South Dakota.

Dimension X

Here's the current list of participants. Let me know if I missed someone because I use this list when I do the random.org drawing.



Comic book challenges are popular again this year.

I want to thank everyone who has claimed a spot so far. It looks like we're really close to last year's number of participants, which is a whole lot more than I was expecting.

Gobear

So far I haven't had a lot of time to watch, but I've gotten in 3 entries so far:

1. Richard III (1995), starring Ian McKellen as he hunchback king. The movie is so well done that one doesn't notice that a good chunk of the text is missing. I thought it was clever to have Elizabeth Woodville and her brother Lord Rivers played by American actors because the Woodvilles were seen as outsiders trying to shove themselves into power.

2. Macbeth (2015), starring Michael Fassbender. Because the characters whispered their dialect in Scots accents, I had enough trouble hearing them that I had to turn on the subtitles. Although I prefer Polanski's version, which I will get to later in the month, I really liked this production. The cinematography was beautiful, highlighting the bare landscape of the Scottish highlands and adding a spooky tone to the story.

3. Cymbeline (2014). I really wanted to like this, but it just doesn't work. Despite the excellent cast, the text is so badly butchered that the plot becomes incoherent. Unlike Richard III, Cymbeline is so densely plotted that it can't withstand being cut so drastically. Also, making the setting more contemporary can make Shakespeare more accessible to a general audience, but translating an ancient British king 's court to a motorcycle gang is a step too far for me.

shadokitty

I'm starting to work my way through Walking With Monsters. Just finished the second episode, on Dailymotion. I first watched it last year for the animation challenge, and while I don't recall who pointed out that it was available there, I want to thank whoever did, as I really enjoy the series.

ntnon

ABBA: The Movie (TCM) is hilarious and charming. And nice. And clean...

I was expecting a straight concert/tour film, but not tongue-in-cheek capering, poking fun and in-joke mocking their own image. This, Spiceworld, Hard Day's Night... they give Spinal Tap a run for their money. Very, very pleasantly surprised, and will have to buy it now.

wishbone

In the late '80s I recorded three Bruce Lee films shown on a local TV station which were The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and Way of the Dragon. The VHS tape is probably still at my parent's house.

I don't remember anything from The Big Boss so I'm counting that as a first view. I thought about it for a bit and I do recall the fight scene with the Russian in Fist of Fury, in particular Petrov sprawled on the ground after the fight. Even from the '80s I remember the fight scene with Chuck Norris, complete with the camera zooms of Chuck, Bruce, and the kitten, in Way of the Dragon.

I think I will watch Enter the Dragon prior to Game of Death. I may have to work Kentucky Fried Movie into the challenge too with its brilliant parody/homage Fistful of Yen.

Indy24LA

Man, 5 days into this and I finally have an idea I really like, "The Politics of Hollywood". I could watch any movie that is about or features politics, which would have opened up a ton of options, from The American President, to the Player, to Game of Thrones to Star Trek VI. I don't wanna stop my sports challenge, so I will have to wait till next year.

shadokitty

I just finished one of my favorite episodes of MASK, 'The Star Chariot'. Matt shows a vengeful moment towards VENOM near the end. I love revisiting shows from my childhood.

shadokitty

Watching Boardstories on Outside Television always makes me wish that I could surf, but I don't live anywhere near the ocean. It always interested me though.

Giles

I watched a 2011 doc film about The Search for Michael Rockefeller - that was utterly fascinating.

omike

I'm off to a satisfying start for my challenge with three movies so far along with some special features. I started with New Tale of Zatoichi, the third film about the blind masseur and swordsman and the first in color. I always like black and white films and I thought the shift to color might be a detriment but this was my favorite of the series so far. More of the origin story of Zatoichi is explored when he goes to visit the man who taught him to use the sword. According to some of the notes, the Japanese public was fascinated with his backstory which was one reason they kept coming back for more. The other two movies were crime dramas from the Nikkatsu studio (Japan's oldest). Massacre Gun was highly influenced by film noir and ended with a blazing gun battle while the other Retaliation almost had a caper feel to it although instead of a theft, the goal was to cause friction between two gangs so a third could move in and take over. It ended with a savage fight with swords and knives. Both these Arrow disks had interviews with actor Jo Shishido and film historian Tony Rayns. Shishido had some good stories and Ryans, who I wasn't familiar with, gave a couple of interesting lectures, one covering the history of Nikkatsu and the other covering the careers of Shishido and director Yassuharu Hasebe who did both of the crime films.

I'm planning on seeing the new Captain America movie today so I don't know if I'll get in any challenge material this evening but I plan on 4 or 5 movies over the weekend.

Cardsfan111

A quick summary of thoughts I've had while digging into some complete series for my challenge:


Married With Children - Count me as surprised when watching this from the beginning that Al & Peg actually seem to like each other.

M*A*S*H - This series starts out strong. Seems like many well-known classic shows take a while to develop, but this one hit the ground running.

The Three Stooges - My favorite part of this is hearing my son laugh at these shorts from the '30s. Until now, he had only seen the more recent film. Initially, he wasn't thrilled with sitting down to watch a B/W show, but now asks to watch more.

The West Wing - Strong dialogue in this series.


Each of these has me eager to press on!

shadokitty

I just finished an episode of MASK that had a very similar plot to a GI Joe episode. VENOM used video waves to enslave an entire town, and Cobra did much the same thing as well in the episode where Flint went on vacation. If they were from the same studio I wouldn't think much of it, butMASK was from DIC, while at the time of that episode, GI Joe was made by Sunbow.

malazar

After not feeling like watching much so far this month due to first an infection/abscessed old root canal tooth and then recovering from having the tooth pulled and the infection dug out, I finally got on a roll and watched the last six episodes of the first season of Black Sails and loved it. Since my primary goal for the challenge is to watch the three seasons of Black Sails to get caught up on that, I decided to add in a secondary challenge of watching stuff that also involves boats or warships. There is a surprisingly large amount of that sort of thing sitting on my DVR.

LJG765

I am off to a slow but steady start. I have watched 3 movies so far, all animated. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Animal Farm and The Adventures of Mark Twain. Jimmy Neutron was alright. I never really watched the tv show and that would probably have helped a bit. Not that you needed it for the plot, but maybe I would have appreciated it a bit more with background on it.

Animal Farm was pretty good. I hate to admit it, but I've never read the book. It's def. on my list of classics to read, but I've just never gotten to it. After watching, I do plan to keep my eye out for a copy now and get it off the bucket list. It's a little darker animated than most and I'm surprised they aimed it at kids whatsoever...though I have watched Watership Down and that thing is violent!

The Adventures of Mark Twain I watched today. I appreciated the effort that went into making it-it's all claymation, and was the first full length claymation film, I guess. I enjoyed Twain in it, but was not a huge fan of it in general. It was a little too pieced together-almost a series of shorts tied together by one main plot line. I also was not a fan of how they treated Eve (as in Adam and Eve) and how Becky Thatcher was treated.

Started watching Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron but ended up putting that off. Maybe later tonight, but what I saw of it had really pretty animation.

shadokitty

I haven't decided if I'm going to watch the actual Kentucky Derby yet today, but as one of the shows to celebrate Derby day, I just watched a good show showing great moments from past Derbies on TVG2.

ntnon

The Big Clock mentions in passing the case of Bob Wood, the Crime Does Not Pay artist who wound up a murderer, and now All Through the Night refers to the Superman radio series!

Interestingly, All Through the Night makes mention of Dachau being an internment camp.... in 1942. Curious,

pacaway

I'm realizing that there is SO much material for my challenge that I may have to go all year again just to get beyond scratching the surface! John Cleese and Michael Palin alone could keep me going all year. Palin's travelogue videos for BBC are so friggin' good! He really is a genuinely funny guy!

mrcellophane

While I haven't been chiming into the discussion, I've been watching quite a bit for the challenge. I'm very glad I decided to do foreign films again this year. My knowledge of world cinema is pretty sparse. This is also giving me a chance to watch titles from the Eclipse series that I've been neglecting for too long.

I also finished up an anime series I'd been watching and started another. Anytime I can get something out of my unwatched pile, it's a good thing!

TheBigDave

I'm doing an 80's challenge. But I probably could have just done an '84 challenge. So many great movies from that year. Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Karate Kid, Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop, Footloose, Temple of Doom, Nightmare on Elm St, Spinal Tap, Red Dawn, Police Academy, 16 Candles, Splash, Romancing the Stone, Purple Rain, Bachelor Party, Revenge of the Nerds, Neverending Story, Body Double, The Natural, etc.

Cardsfan111

Seeing that list makes me think it might have been the year that caused me to be such a fan of movies. As a kid, I recall seeing many of these in the theater, on cable or checking them out from a video store.

KaBluie

My Cable & Internet got turned back on on May 7, so I can do it!

Dimension X

Thanks. Added you to the list.

Trevor

So far, my Chllenge appears to be "How long can you keep the TV turned off this month?"

But I've done every Challenge since 2005, so I have to do something. Maybe a Swamp Thing Challenge....

davidh777

I find this challenge great for participating but a little tougher to discuss since most of us are doing vastly different things. I always like to hear what people are watching, though, and the creative themes give me ideas for future challenges.

I've settled on a Marvel theme because I saw Civil War last night and am working my way through the first season of Agents of SHIELD. If I finish that, I'll probably try one of the Netflix series. I'm a little sad to not be doing musicals again, but I can do that in the future.